Forging a Hero
by Spartan-938
Summary: Sequel to Final Fight of In Amber Clad First Chapter contains summary , Prequel to my next Halo fiction. UNSC Marine Sasha engages Covenant Loyalists in-order to get to Earth.
1. Conquest

Forging a Hero

Written By: Andrew Faulkner, AKA, Spartan-938

This is the short follow-up to my previous big project, The Final Fight of In Amber Clad. The following is what Sasha was doing up until the events of Union. Hopefully this fic and the ones that follow will be much better than In Amber Clad, and will seem like a truly awesome thing to read. Another reason for doing this, as I was unsatisfied with that short Epilogue on what Sasha did during the time she left the Halo. This fiction, and Union, will be more about the Elite's than my fics normally are. Also, If you did not know, Sasha is the woman in the first preview for Union, the one in strange Elite like armor.

\\ The Story so far…

Three marines that were part of the crew on the ship, In Amber Clad, banded together with the marine forces on Delta Halo. While attempting to form a parameter in some areas near the Library, the Flood attacked and began to decimate Human and Covenant forces. Lance, and ODST, Mark, a marine, and Sasha, another marine, tried to hold off the flood for extraction. Meanwhile, Covenant forces trying to also form a perimeter and to squander flood reinforcements for the Arbiter, came into heavy resistance. In the end, the Elite's commander, and two of his prized subordinates, met up with the humans, while captured, and formed a truce, with a common goal. Stop the flood. The Elite commander, Syren, and Lance went off to In Amber Clad in an attempt to take it back from the flood.

However, while on board the flood managed to take control, causing Lance and Syren to fall back to the main deck. Near the sealed bulkhead, and mutated flood monster, a Juggernaut, came after them, Syren, sacrificing him self to plant a Plasma grenade on the beast, bought enough time for Lance to get inside the control room and take brief command. However, realizing that In Amber Clad was going to become a vessel for the flood, and they lacked the manpower and equipment to hold off the flood, Lance ordered the pilots to make a jump _into_ In Amber Clad. When the ship came into High Charity the massive damage it had taken, and some strange anomaly that had caused the ship to gain a ridiculous amount of weight, the ship veered off course and towards a tower on the wall of High Charity.

Lance spotted three transponder signals, John-117, Miranda Keyes, and Avery Johnson down below. The ship was hailed, by UNSC smart A.I Cortana, but Lance told them not to respond as they're mission was over. Lance died content with the fact he had unleashed the flood onto the Covenant, a blow that would much later allow the Master Chief, John-117, to take down the Covenant, and end the war once and for all. While this was occurring, the four man group of the two elite's and marines tried to hold off the flood and find transport. They came across a Covenant encampment that had been abandoned and decided to wait there, at the site of a disabled Phantom. As they tried to fix it, the flood began to overwhelm them, though most of the infection had gone off to High Charity. A Human Combat Form came up and was going to kill one of the Elite's with a shotgun, the elite had been in arguments with Mark, and while Mark despised working with the Elite's, moved quickly to take the blast from the shotgun. The form was killed and the group watched as Mark slowly died. Mark gave Sasha a hunk of glass he'd taken from the ruins of their old homeworld, and told the Elite to take care of her. He died starring at the brilliant light from the beacon Halo had fired. The Phantom's radio soon received a transmission from a Covenant Separatist ship, the Forever Restless. The acting captain of the Forever Restless informed them they would be jumping near Earth, at Pluto. Sasha left the Phantom to be with Marks body. She decided she'd take him with him, to either bury him, or launch his body into space using an Orbital Insertion Pod. She begins to wonder what she will be doing, in the following time…:\

Sasha sat in a corner on the Phantom. A few Elite's starred at her a little. She would not let go of Marks body, which lay across her lap. She held him up by the back of his head. She had taken his tags and put them in her vest pouch. She had lost him, and also Lance. The _Forever Restless_ hailed the Phantom as it approached.

"Hail brothers. I see you inbound. The Shipmaster wishes to speak to you when you board. We may not be heading to Earth as planned."

Zeibra walked up to the radio.

"Why? What has happened?"

"The flood has consumed High Charity and they have gained control of numerous ships. The Brutes are also breaking through our ranks, heading for Earth. The Arbiter is confirmed to still be on the Sacred...on the Ring."

"By the gods…"

"A human ship acted as transport for the flood. Also, a Gravemind was onboard."

The Elite's all were stunned. A flood compound mind, the living embodiment, a full Gravemind, was _in_ High Charity. It was making a hive; it was preparing an assault.

"But some good has come. The Arbiter has slain Tarturus, and has deactivated the rings. The Demon however is unaccounted for, neither on High Charity or anywhere else. From what the Battle-Net is saying he hid on the Dreadnought. His A.I is rumored to still be onboard High Charity."

Zeibra took this all in. For the fleet to have learned so much about what had recently happened, then they had surly missed a lot. It was all so confusing. The rings, the lies. And Truth. The bastard. He was responsible for Syren's death; he was responsible for his mentors' death. He was responsible for the death of so many of his people.

"What of Mercy? What is part in this?"

"Unknown. He was not with Truth. Transmissions sent among the Brutes claim he met his demise at the hands of the flood."

Sasha could no longer bear the conversation and moved to the other side of the Phantom, where she could not hear them. She clutched her vest pocket, as she starred into Marks soulless eyes, which lay across from her. Could all this really be happening? Space zombies, alien allies? Earth in the Covenants hands…

No. She would not think of it. She got down on her stomach and began to do push-ups. She needed to be strong. She needed to be ready.

The Elite's in the Phantom looked at her in curiosity. She was beginning to sweat. She kept at it, counting every push-up in her head. Lev' knew what she was doing. Trying to train for the coming battles. He sighed. She would not be getting her revenge soon. While the Separatists were attempting to figure out a battle plan, it went without saying that the Flood was the priority. But Earth was the Prophets target. The Loyalists were heading there now, trying to reclaim Earth. But for what purpose? Could they have found something?

--

The Chieftain sat on his chair. The Covenant Loyalist vessel was still near the Sacred Ring. Tarturus was slain, but the Jiralhanae would not be slowed by his death. He starred down at his hammer. It was heavily modified from how it originally had been desghined. It was now capable of minor control of its gravity blasts. Ranging from forcing the targets near the hammer to be crushed under the pressure or to be sent flying into the air. It was truly a work of the Huragok's skill, and his own. He would not be rivaled in combat, even to his own soldiers.

The Hammer was a large mass. It was the same design as all his Minor Chieftains hammers, but with more Covenant-tech added on. Even a small Gravity Lift was added to the top that could be used to boost the hammers speed. Of course all these modifications took energy. But that problem was stemmed by the addition of small recharging power packs on the hammers lower parts, similar to the Sangheili's powerful recharging power shield. The chieftain wore the same kind of armor the other hammer-wielding chieftains had. Though his armor also contained modifications, including a shield generator that could recharge his shield, and every now and then boost the power to be invulnerable by placing invulnerability devices in small slots along the waist area. In theory, this made him a walking tank. But his armor and hammer had serious drawbacks. Without proper care or a cautious user, the hammer, and the armor could take the life of an uncareful user.

He stood and walked from his seat to the view screens and looked upon the detailed schematics of his ship. Everything was running well. The Slipspace drive could easily take them to Earth right away, but first, what of the Sangheili? They remained, trying to mop up the remaining Loyalists, and contain the Parasite; the dreaded plague of the Forerunners. A Brute Captain Ultra approached him and knelt down before him. "Chieftain, the Sangheili are effectively quarantining the space around the Sacred Ring, and High Charity. All ships are scattered, and foolish. They are trying to form coordinated attacks to no avail. It is recommended we leave for the Human-world."

"Tell me, who recommends this?" The Chieftain said with contempt. He glared down at the Captain.

"The pilots, and the strategists of the crew sir."

"Are you sure? If I were to ask the others on this bridge would they recommend it? Even if they would, would they admit to having told you of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you are merely speaking of your own mind that we should leave, you are out of place. If you are the spokesperson for my crew then I shall rethink my thoughts about remaining here and executing you for thinking you are able to sway me, because of your rank, which was given to you on another ship, before you were transferred here. Let me tell you something, I am in charge here and never think that one fool can change my mind. It's all part of a strategy and you're an expendable part of it."

"I…sorry, I was out of line."

"You'll live now, wretch. But soon you shall be in combat, there we shall see how brave you really are."

The Chieftain returned to his chair and sat.

"Take us into slipspace."

The crew on board the bridge growled and roared and the ship began to move. The Brute smiled, as his mind already began to calculate how he would attempt to aid the San 'Shyuum Prophet of Truth and become a decorated war hero.

--

--

--

Okay, uh, yeah there it is. Once again it's probably a slow beginning to you, the reader(s) but just know, I tried to make this as interesting as possible. Please, if you have not read In Amber Clad, don't go back and read it. Just take the summary for what it is. I.A.C was full of errors and the summary is all the details you need to know. Also, when Forging a Hero is complete, Tales of Union will finally be released.

Copyright Microsoft and Bungie Studios, Special thanks to Halopedia, and 


	2. Pestilence

Forging a Hero

Forging a Hero

Chapter 2: Pestilence

Authors Notes: Hey y'all, here is chapter two. And here comes the flood. I have been attempting to work on my combat dialogue and actions, trying to make I more interesting to read and to put more visuals in your head, making it the closest you'd probably ever saw it to actually happening or something. Also, I am aware that there is a certain make up for Elite's names, mainly how most Elite's last names end with "ee" however, as theorized by fans, after the Great Schism in which the Elite's left the Covenant they removed that part of their name to signify they're leaving the Covenant armada. Also I was not aware of the Elite-naming scheme when I created Zeibra (Zay-bra.) And Lev (Lehv.). Also, while the exact position of the Supreme Commander is speculated, it could be theorized it is a very high rank, possibly equal in status to what I call a "High Cheiftan" which would be a Brute near the status of Tarturus. The idea of him wearing the violet armor is taken from the Halo Graphic novel, even though the artists seemed to have taken several artistic liberties (Best example is the story about New Mombassa.) I assume an Elite of this stature would wear elaborate armor. While its been practically confirmed the current Arbiter was the Novels Supreme Commander, it remains unknown whether or not he, in Halo Canon, should have worn Zealot armor. Though it could be that the reason in the beginning of Halo 2 Bungie, due to the various time constraints, was unable to desghin his armor, also backed up by the overall craptastic-ness of the Brutes "armor" in Halo 2.

Sasha Evans walked beside Lev' Dunxeet and Zeibra Eilonu. Lev' carried Mark, with his Ranger Elite helmet discarded revealing his long, battle scarred, head. Zeibra's armor was no longer a brilliant silver and was scratched. Zeibra, had now become more outspoken and leader like with the death of his mentor. The door made a loud ding and a circular lock in the center spun a bit and the door opened revealing the dimly lit bridge. An Elite in brilliant violet armor was speaking with another Elite wearing nothing. Sasha starred at both the Elite's. 

The Elite that had the armor on was about a few inches taller than most Elite's she had seen. The armor was a dark purple or violet, the helmet was like a normal one except the spikes on the back curved in various directions, and some thin plated armor went down the back neck of the Elite. A large and very long purple cape that was draped all around him hid the rest of its armor. The other Elite had many visible scars and burns from Plasma, and seemed to stand as tall as it is legs would allow it to. While the Elite's mandibles could not really give off signs of moods, such as frowns or smiles, this Elite seemed to be moving it's mandibles very hurriedly and proudly. The Supreme Commander put its fist to it's chest and said something in it's own language. The other Elite snorted and walked away.

Zeibra and Lev' kneeled behind the Commander, Zeibra putting his arm across his chest. Lev' keeping his eyes on either the floor or Mark, Sasha could not tell. The Commander turned and starred down on them. Then up at Sasha, then down at Mark.

"Stand, Ultra."

Zeibra stood and looked into the Commanders eyes.

"My subordinates have told me of your travels. Syren Nefrope was a brilliant Sangheili Field master, as well as a great tactician. It is a shame knowing he may have perished believing in the Prophets lies."

"It does sadden me. But now is not the time to dwell on our lost. Now is the time for planning."

"I suppose. But don't forget about your feelings. The loss of a comrade is saddening to all with sensible thoughts. I personally feel we should wait for the Arbiter's input, however we are short on time and for now are under our own juristriction. I am planning on ordering a few ships from my fleet to go to the Human homeworld, but I remain uncertain of how we should do this. The parasite has become active in High Charity; it's Oxygen vents spewing spores about the city. But this has also thinned Jiralhanae ranks. The Jiralhanae have not seen much active combat since their failure on the first Human world, but this means that Truth has most likely ordered every last reserved Jiralhanae to Earth. Also, you may stand know Ranger, and give that body to one of the Elite's by the wall there, they will take him to a temporary resting place."

Lev' stood and walked away with Mark. Sasha watched and took one last look at Mark before turning back to the Commander. Sasha walked up the Elite and stared up at it. The commander cast a curios gaze at her.

"So then what are we going to do? And what are you going to do to me," Sasha asked.

"I am going to rally two more ships and then we shall go to Earth. As for you, you wish to fight with us, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then you must learn about our weapons. You humans do not receive much training with our technology, do you?"

"All we know how to do is point and shoot."

The Commander let out a laugh. It was a scary thing to hear and it made Sasha very uncomfortable. The Elite looked down at Zeibra. "You and you're Ranger go to the Barracks."

Zeibra left with Lev'. The Commander called to another Elite in the Elite language and they spoke briefly. The new Elite nudged its head for Sasha to follow and she did. The Elite led her down a long series of corridors. She got glimpses of rooms that had Elite's training, to Hunter worms scurrying about. She saw some Engineers chattering about and repairing objects and weapons. She also saw a large window that on the other side was one of the ships Hunting preserves in which various species were walking about. Eventually they arrived in a hallway that each door glowed red and had a visible shield defending the door. Each doorway had a holopanel. The Elite stepped up to one of them and poked it a few times. The shield disappeared. It did this again and the glow became purple and the lock spun and opened.

The Sangheili Aristocrat, Zara 'Taram looked up at Sasha. Sasha recognized him as the naked Elite from earlier. The other Elite left, door shutting behind him. It was a brightly-lit purple room, with what looked like a bed, a hovering chair and beside that a large silver pole resided in the air above a Gravity Weapon Holder. The pole had, what Sasha assumed were, Forerunner glyphs and Sangheili writing engraved on it, along with a two solid black pressure pads in the center, activation triggers like the ones on an Energy Sword. Zara followed her gaze from his chair. He looked at the pole.

"When a Sangheili becomes heavily skilled in the practice of Energy Swords, we are allowed to become, Aristocrats. Aristocrats are given personalized swords of their own and are no longer eligible for marriage. However, we are free to bred with any female, whether they are married or not, in hopes of spreading our genes to the females offspring. Therefore, carrying on the swordsmen genes."

Sasha, upon hearing this was now glad the Elite wore armor, a bright set of silver armor, minus the helmet. Though the small lights on the armor glowed a bright orange and there were some shiny and pretty orange pads like additions to the armor. It was the armor of an Honor Guard Ultra, the leaders and most fiercest of the Covenant Honor Guards. He looked at her and sighed.

"So why have you come to me? If you were hoping for me to pass me genes onto you, I'm afraid I am in no mood to experiment."

Sasha smiled. Lev' and Zeibra were like most Elite's, all rough and tough. The Commander seemed a bit calmer and Zara seemed a lot more laid back. She liked the idea of the Elite's having a softer side. Though she probably did not realize that she liked the more laid back attitude of these two Elite's because it reminded her of Mark.

"I guess the Commander wants you to train me in the use of Covenant arms."

"Ah. Wise. I am highly skilled in the use of all Covenant weapons, Jiralhanae weapons, and even Human weapons. Such knowledge was one strike against me when I was named a Heretic."

"Heretic?"

"Yes. But now is not the time for tired stories, we must prepare for-"

Suddenly red lights began flashing on the ceiling and a strange siren like noise began ringing. Sasha heard what sounded like the Commanders voice, echoing in the room, presumably from speakers inside the walls. It spoke in alien tongue then stopped. Zara jumped up from his seat and grabbed the pole. He gripped it and a saber like energy beam came of the end. The Blade was curved on one side and straight on another giving it the look of an old Saber used on Earth back in more primitive days.

"Come human! A Flood ship is launching boarding crafts! We must prepare for battle!"

Zara seemed to smack a holopanel, causing the door to open. Zara rushed out and looked about in the hall. Sasha ran out after him and crouched behind him. She had no weapons and could not help much in fighting.

"Come human! We must reach the Commander!"

The Elite turned and ran down the hallway opposite that of the one that Sasha had took to get to Zara.

"Uh, isn't this the wrong way?!"

"The way we are taking is closer to one of the ships sides, that way we can help repel any boarders. The Flood is close to a Gravemind, I would wager that more than just Boarding crafts are coming to the _Forever Restless_." Another transmission echoed down the halls.

Zara roared.

"Ah-ha! I was right, the Flood have deployed Phantoms. Our fleets have destroyed the main ship and others but many more forms of transport remain." The hallway they were now running down was crammed with rushing Elite's; some with weapons, others without, running for armories.

"Wont it be hard for me to help without a weapon," Sasha asked narrowly dodging a running Elite. "If you are going to be helping us fight anything, you'll need to learn about fighting in desperate situations."

The ship shuddered a little. A few boarding crafts had gotten past the defenses of the ship and were lodged into it. The echoes of the Commander were now in a more distraught tone. A bulkhead door up ahead opened and an Elite Combat form leapt out of the darkness. It pounced down on an Elite knocking it over. The Combat form gave the Elite a good smack and jumped forward towards the other Elite's in the hall. Infection Forms now came from behind and scurried over the Elite. It let out a cry of pain as one of them burrowed into its skin and moved its innards about to make room for a small nest. The body of the Elite began to mutate and bulge and it's skin grew to a sickening gray pale. It got back up and ran to join its brothers. Zara cut down the infected Elite and others, stomping on passing Infection Forms. Sasha picked up a Plasma Rifle and began firing. It was a large weapon, a lot bigger than her arm was, but she managed to hold it and fire it in small busts. The Plasma burned through the Flood and damaged the Infection Forms inside of the Infected Elite's, as well as burning off vital limbs. The Plasma Rifle opened its vent and released blue steam. Sasha held her breath; she had heard rumors breathing that stuff gave people Borens Syndrome. She the vent closed and she pressed on with Zara.

They rounded a corner and found corpses of Elite's and Grunts. Limbs and blood covered the floor. Up ahead at a hallway intersection, two Hunters ran by the halls opening and into another. The halls echoed with the Commanders voice once again. Zara stopped and looked back the way they had came. The door shut and the lock spun to it's locked position and glowed red. Then some sparks came out from the lock.

"What is that?"

"The Commander…he is sealing the infected areas. Come, we must get out of this area."

They rushed up to the intersection, and turned right. As they ran, they occasionally heard the ding that marked the quarantine of another area. The turned down a hallway and saw that the lights here were flickering on and off. It was the only unlocked way, so they pressed forward. The lights flickered on for a moment, enough time to see something crawling on the floor ahead scurry across the floor.

"That smell, Flood, be careful. The Parasite has the ability to slowly degrade organs and bones inside of hosts until they are free to mutate it to their every whim. It is a Pure Form. A Stalker."

Sasha nodded. He damaged HUD had some trouble reading the weapon, but it said there was about 50 energy left in the Plasma Rifle. They reached the end of the corridor. The glow from there weapons lighting the dark tunnel. The door behind them closed and locked. Sasha heard what sounded like some kind of squeal and turned around. She looked around and saw nothing. But she heard some kind strange noise. A sick noise like the kind she heard when the Infection Forms mutated hosts. She then saw small glowing spikes rise up in the air and float in front of them. Sasha turned on her flashlight and saw a Ranged Pure Form. It fired spikes at them with rapid speed. She shouted and got on the ground. She fired her weapon to the point of over heating but could not hit the form due to its spikes keeping her from moving in order to aim. Zara ducked in front of her, his shields glaring as spikes bounced off of them, one breaking through and scratching off his armor. Zara thrust his spear forward and impaled the Pure Form. He lifted it up in the air as it squealed. He swung the spear down ward, the weight of the Pure Form pulling it off of the blade and thumping on the ground.

They soon found themselves back on the bridge. Lev' and Zeibra were looking on the main view screen. The Supreme Commander saw in the Captains chair and roared. "We are leaving. The Flood ships have been destroyed, and the forms on the ship have been killed and burned. Some managed to highjack vehicles and escape but that's alright, most if not all were wiped out by our fellow brothers." The ship rocked a bit and went into Slipspace.

Lev' walked over to Sasha. Enur 'Xalteen, the Commander, witnessed a view of your comrades body being infected and escaping in a Phantom with the Parasite. We are now inbound for space near Earth. I am sorry.

Sasha looked up at him with wide eyes. She dropped the Plasma Rifle and let it land on her foot without so much as a wince. The Flood had finally taken Mark away for good. Not only that, but the Phantoms that had survived the battle would later infect and infest a Covenant Ship and break through the Elite's quarantine.

Okay there is chapter two. I hope you enjoy it and forgive me for making the chapter seem a bit awkward at points but this is how I wanted it to be and it turned out well. The Flood will be back in the next chapter as well though and will play a bigger role, also, if you are wondering why the hell Enur gives a Drones ass about Sasha and her mission to get revenge, this will be explained a bit more thoroughly in the next chapter, as well as how Sasha will learn more about Covenant weapons and be able to handle them as well as any Elite could. Zara's background as to why he was labeled a heretic will be explained later, and why he was speaking with the Commander, in the beginning, given his own personal room, and why he was not executed for Heresy as is most common back in the good old days of the Covenant.

Special thanks goes to "forever restless" on who let me, use the name as the title for Enur's ship, and to deviantART, Halopedia, and Bungie.

Additional thanks to my friends on whose support helps me write these stories.

Some thanks to my good friend Zakuro, who broke my 360 and helped me realize how much Halo 3 kicks ass compared to Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 which have the most eye sore graphics now.

No thanks to Xbox Live, which seems to be forever out of my reach


End file.
